I Don't Recognize My Country Anymore - Page 12

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Originally Posted by tonton 

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You're kidding, right?

 

Did you fail third grade economics?

 

Why don't you tell me what increased demand (and plenty of supply capacity) usually do to price?

 

Then I can tell you why it doesn't happen in the US (but it happens in Canada).

 

Lobbyists, corruption, quid pro status quo.

There is not "plenty" of capacity.  In the US we are already seeing drug shortages at times.  Demand has exploded, and supply has not.  Prices of brand name drugs have skyrocketed.  This is what happens when you have ads for drugs to treat Restless Leg Syndrome and Chronic Dry Eyes and I Want to Bone My Wife Harder & Longer Syndrome.  People go to their doctors and get scrips and use their insurance plans to the extreme.  Hence, higher prices and higher premiums.  Did you fail third grade economics?  

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonton 

They have that system in Canada. The rich people who want to cut in line can always go to the US for treatment. And they do. Let them.

 

But yeah, I think the Hong Kong/Swiss/German/Austrian/Dutch/Scandinavian/Spanish/French/British system is better than the Canadian system. Canada's problem, however, is not enough doctors, due to the draw of insane profits if they practice in the US. The broken system in the US is contributing to the Canadian problem.

Let me ask, then:  What happens when there is no U.S. system?

Not too long ago two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban stopped and said, "How lucky you are! I had someplace to escape to." In that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.

Ronald Reagan

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonton 


There are several problems with your claim:
1) Supply can be artificially restricted to maintain high prices.
2) The synthesis of most of these high-priced drugs is simply a matter of mixing chemicals that are themselves in abundant supply. Capacity could easily be increased if the drug companies wanted to.
3) The price for generic drugs is way lower.
4) The price for brand name drugs is much lower outside of the US.
Um... Let me see... First, Canadian doctors stop going to the US to practice where profits are higher. They earn less, stay in Canada, and Canada suddenly has enough capacity to support both public and private health care systems. See how easy that was?
Freedom to prosper at the expense of others. You must be so proud.

1)  Yes.  Can you prove that's happened?  

2)  If it's that simple, we should all start making our own drugs.  Really tonton, you sound ridiculous.  These druge companies spend BILLIONS developing and manufacturing drugs.  

3) So?  

4) That's because of a lack of competition and a Stalin-like FDA, which needs to change.  

5) I'm not talking about doctors, I'm talking about patients.  If you want to have the discussion on what doctors are doing with our current system in the US, I'm all for it.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonton 

Bribery of an elected official is a criminal offense. But paying a lobbyist six figures to take Senators out on $200 a plate martini lunches where promises can be traded is not a criminal offense.
Extortion of an elected official is a criminal offense. But paying a lobbyist six figures to tell Senators during one of those martini lunches or private yacht trips or cocktail receptions that if they don't push your agenda then you will publish a trade article telling the nation to bot against you is not an offense.
There are no other countries where this bribery and extortion happens as much as it does in the US.
QUID PRO STATUS QUO
It's not government that is the problem. It is the US government that is the problem. And we can start with the lobby system.

You have absolutely no evidence of that whatsoever.  None.  Zero.  

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Originally Posted by BR 

Can we actually expect you to change your mind if the evidence were presented to you, SDW?  

Change my mind?  I never expressed an opinion.  I simply asked for evidence one one point, and pointed out the lack of evidence on the other.   

Changed my mind about what?  There's nothing to change one's mind about.  The people I relied on were wrong in their turnout assumptions.  Obama's voters turnout...GOP voters did not.  That's really all there is.  

I have definitely not changed my mind on Bengahzi.  In fact, I'm starting to think the entire thing is much bigger than we know at present. The more comes out about what was said to the American public and what the initial intel assessments actually were, the more concerned I am.  Concerned is not even the word...I want answers.  

Again, I'm not sure what I'd change my mind about.  I thought there were WMDs in Iraq.  It turned out their weren't.  I did not see any evidence whatsoever that the Bush Administration lied about them.  Interestingly enough, you excuse the failures of the the intel community wrt Benghazi, but not for Iraq.  

I think you mean that you believe I have such a track record.   I know that I change my mind when the facts change.  For example, if documents were produced showing the Bush Administration deliberately misled the American people on WMDs, I would change my mind.  If documents were produced that showed the intelligence community initially concluded that Benghazi was a spontaneous act and related to the anti-Muslim video, I would change my mind.  In the case of the former, no such evidence exists.  In the case of the latter, the evidence shows quite the opposite.  It shows that top officials knew almost immediately that Benghazi was a terrorist attack.